The Pakistani community in Britain must urgently address the problem of gangs
systematically grooming and abusing young white girls, justice minister
Damian Green has said.

Just days after seven Asian men were convicted of carrying out crimes of “medieval” depravity against girls as young as 11, in Oxford, Mr Green said it was time to dismiss any vestiges of political correctness around the issue.

The Oxford scandal was the fifth such case since 2010 with gangs of Pakistani men being convicted of similar grooming outrages in Rochdale, Derby, Rotherham and Shropshire.

In an interview with The Daily Telegraph, Mr Green, who is the minister for police and criminal justice, said he was setting up a Home Office led group to help tackle the problem of sexual violence against children.

But he said it was also up to Pakistani community leaders to make it absolutely clear that such behaviour was “100 per cent unacceptable”.

In the Oxford case, six girls were targeted by a gang mainly of Pakistani heritage who showered them with gifts and attention before subjecting them to acts of appalling sexual violence.

The exploitation lasted for five years and only ended when the girls became brave enough to report their abusers to police.

But there is growing concern that wider issue is being brushed under the carpet because the authorities are fearful of being accused of racism.

Mr Green said: “It’s not sadly the first example we have had of organised serious exploitation and abuse involving Pakistani heritage men grooming and abusing white girls

“I hope that what happens is that any last vestiges of political correctness that say, ‘there are some cultural issues to address here’ disappear, because this is criminality, pure and simple.

“It goes without saying that every world religion condemns the exploitation and abuse of children and just as there are huge challenges to the social care system and the police, there are clearly challenges for community leaders to make it absolutely clear that this is 100 per cent unacceptable in any circumstances.”

“I am encouraged that I have heard voices saying that over the last couple of days but I think that has got to be the starting point, that this must not be a cultural issue, this is just criminality and it applies to everyone.”

Mr Green said the new Home Office task force would be aimed at helping those vulnerable to sexual exploitation by building in support across the criminal justice system.

He explained: “This will mean their voices are heard earlier and listened to more carefully. It will build more support into the system and improve systems for identifying those at risk.

“But our prime responsibility is, of course, stopping abuse before it starts. The group will be working to target the organised crime groups that perpetrate the sort of systematic abuse we saw in Oxford.”

He said the group would also look at how social media is used by gangs to groom and abuse the vulnerable.

Mr Green said while it was important to recognise exploitation and sexual abuse was a problem common to all parts of society denying the issue existed in the Pakistani community for cultural reasons was completely wrong.

He said: “It is the case that most cases of child abuse actually involve the white British middle aged men, we have seen terrible examples of Jimmy Savile and others, but it does seem from the evidence that we have seen so far, a particular problem of this organised, systematic year after year grooming and abusing.

“There is clearly more than one example of this within the Pakistani origin community so that itself is a specific problem and everyone particularly the community leaders need to recognise that as a problem we need to address.”